Blog Archives
Enbridge set to take over most of B.C.’s gas pipelines
Protest in Comox, BC, against Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, 2012.
Northern Gateway proponent gets 55% of B.C. gas pipelines and LNG stake in merger
By Betsy Trumpener, CBC News, September 6, 2016
Enbridge, the company behind the controversial Northern Gateway oil sands pipeline project, is set to take over 55 per cent of B.C.’s gas pipelines as well as major gas processing plants.
As part of a merger with Houston-based Spectra announced Tuesday, Enbridge will also take over Spectra’s stake in a major liquified natural gas export proposal.
The Westcoast Connector LNG project proposes piping gas across northern B.C. along a route similar to the one Enbridge Northern Gateway once mapped out to transport crude to oil tankers on B.C.’s North Coast. Read the rest of this entry
Northern Gateway pipeline approval overturned
Protest in Comox, BC, against Enbridge pipeline, 2012.
Federal Court of Appeal finds Canada failed to consult with First Nations on pipeline project
By Jason Proctor, CBC News, June 30, 2016
The Federal Court of Appeal has overturned approval of Enbridge’s controversial Northern Gateway project after finding Ottawa failed to properly consult the First Nations affected by the pipeline.
“We find that Canada offered only a brief, hurried and inadequate opportunity … to exchange and discuss information and to dialogue,” the ruling says.
“It would have taken Canada little time and little organizational effort to engage in meaningful dialogue on these and other subjects of prime importance to Aboriginal peoples. But this did not happen.” Read the rest of this entry
B.C. government failed to properly consult First Nations on Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, court rules
No Enbridge, art by Andy Everson, Kwakwaka’wakw.
Gitga’at celebrating ‘huge victory’ after court rules province failed in duty to consult
CBC News, Jan 13, 2016
The B.C. Supreme court has ruled that the province “has breached the honour of the Crown by failing to consult” with the Gitga’at and other Coastal First Nations on the Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline.
In 2014, the federal government approved the controversial pipeline that would bring Alberta oil to B.C.’s north coast. Read the rest of this entry
Enbridge to decide next year on Northern Gateway pipeline
Protest in Comox, BC, against Enbridge pipeline, 2012.
Energy company not giving up on proposed pipeline, despite tanker ban
By Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press, Dec 3, 2015
Enbridge’s CEO says a decision on whether to build the controversial Northern Gateway pipeline across British Columbia may come in late 2016, though the company is not concerned with sticking to a certain timeline.
Al Monaco also says a ban on tanker traffic along B.C.’s north coast, made official by the new Trudeau Liberal government last month, does not mean Enbridge is giving up — even though many critics have said the ban effectively kills the project. Read the rest of this entry
CSIS helped government prepare for expected Northern Gateway protests
Logo of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
Release comes amid heightened concern over new powers proposed in anti-terror bill
By Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press/CBC News, March 17, 2015
Canada’s spy agency helped senior federal officials figure out how to deal with protests expected last summer in response to resource and energy development issues — including a pivotal decision on the Northern Gateway pipeline.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service prepared advice and briefing material for two June meetings of the deputy ministers’ committee on resources and energy, documents obtained under the Access to Information Act show.
The issue was driven by violence during demonstrations against natural-gas fracking in New Brunswick the previous summer and the government’s interest in “assuming a proactive approach” in 2014, says a newly declassified memo from Tom Venner, CSIS assistant director for policy and strategic partnerships. Read the rest of this entry
Falling oil prices pose another delay for B.C. pipelines
Protest in Comox, BC, against Enbridge pipeline, 2012.
Mike Hager, The Globe and Mail, Jan. 18, 2015
Energy economists say that a prolonged slump in oil prices will further slow two proposed pipelines already hamstrung by court challenges and community opposition in British Columbia.
Federal Finance Minister Joe Oliver has maintained that “the strategic need is still there” for both the Northern Gateway and Trans Mountain pipelines to go through the province. But the slumping price of oil has caused enough “market instability,” as Mr. Oliver put it, to prompt Ottawa to postpone its budget to at least April.
Analysts say that kind of instability hasn’t yet changed the economic imperative for Canada’s oil industry to open up its first major conduit to Pacific markets, but most agree that a months-long downturn in oil prices could slow investment in oil sands expansion, which in turn could decrease the supply of oil available to any future pipelines.
Up to pipeline firms, not Ottawa, to make Gateway, Trans Mountain work, industry minister says
Another protester arrested and carried away; in total some 26 people were arrested on Nov 20, 2014, protesting Kinder Morgan’s exploratory drilling on Burnaby Mountain, BC.
Federal government has ‘done everything we can,’ Industry Minister James Moore says
By Chris Hall, CBC News, Dec 11, 2014
Industry Minister James Moore says the federal government did its job to advance the cause of two proposed oil pipelines through his home province of British Columbia, and now it’s up to the companies to ensure the projects succeed.
“We’ve done everything we can in a responsible way,” Moore said in an interview with CBC News in his Parliament Hill office when asked about Enbridge’s proposed Northern Gateway pipeline and Kinder Morgan’s planned expansion of its Trans Mountain pipeline. Read the rest of this entry
Harper government may delay Northern Gateway: Grand Chief
Rally against Enbridge Northern Gateway in Vancouver, BC, June 8, 2014.
The President of the Union of BC Indian Chiefs said the government’s big announcement on Northern Gateway could take place as early as tomorrow.
Speaking in front of a large crowd gathered for the Convergence 2014: Protecting Our Sacred Waters rally on Sunday afternoon, Grand Chief Stewart Philip said the federal government may delay its decision on the controversial Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline. “We’ve heard through the grapevine that the Harper government is going to announce a delay,” said the Chief Phillip said to the hundreds of people gathered to protest the bitumen pipeline proposal. “This is the rumour — that it’s going to be a delay to allow for more consultation with First Nations communities. We know that if we take this matter to the court today, the Harper government will lose.”
Chuck Strahl, Chair of CSIS oversight committee, lobbying for Enbridge
Chuck Strahl, now chair of SIRC.
OTTAWA — Concerns are being raised about reports that former Conservative MP Chuck Strahl, who now oversees Canada’s spy agency, is lobbying for Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline. Read the rest of this entry
Premiers’ quarrel over resource revenue threatens to scuttle pipeline
Josh Wingrove and Jane Taber, The Globe and Mail, Tuesday, July 24, 2012
A standoff between premiers has left the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline in peril, with Alberta Premier Alison Redford saying she won’t share any resource revenue and B.C. premier Christy Clark saying she’ll block the project without more cash. Read the rest of this entry
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